Traditional appliances, including laboratory incubators, are known to typically have an operational and/or information display that is oriented in a plane that has a vertical face that is 90 degrees to the horizontal. Such an operational and information display may indicate information related to the appliance, such as for example the internal temperature of the atmosphere inside the unit. The display also may indicate operational mode settings, thermostat settings, or other information that is helpful in monitoring the condition of the unit, and/or that is used when inputting or confirming settings of the unit. The display may also be able to indicate malfunction of the unit.
Accordingly, it is desirable that the operational and information display be readily and easily visible to personnel in the vicinity of the unit. The substantially vertical orientation of conventional displays may be adequate where the display is located on a unit at an elevation relatively close to a horizontal line of sight for personnel in the vicinity. Because incubator units typically have a front door which occupies most of the front surface of the unit, it has been typical to provide the display near the top of the unit above the door. Thus, where units are approximately the height of a person, the vertically oriented display arrangement is satisfactory.
The displays typically may be a series of LED or LCD digital displays, generally having a transparent face plate in front of the LED or LCD elements. When the vertically oriented display has its face plate at an angle to the line of sight of the user, reflections can, often obscure the information being displayed, or at least make it difficult to read. Moreover, even without reflections the digits or characters on the display can become distorted and thus difficult to read when viewed from an angle. Therefore, when the display is located to high or too low above or below the user's visual line of sight, display effectiveness is comprised. This can occur for example in the case of a relatively short or relatively tall single incubator.
Another development which further causes conventional vertical displays to be undesirably located, either above or below the user's line of sight, is the increasing prevalence of stacked environmental units such as incubators. That is, it is becoming common for two medium sized units to be installed in a stacked configuration, thus providing greater flexibility than a single unit of the same height. In many conventional situations, this results in the lower unit having its display well below the line of sight of the personnel, and the upper unit having its display well above the person's line of sight. In either case, the viewer sees the display at an angle, often suffering from reflections and/or distortions.
In considering the problem of vertical display units having vertical faces being undesirably angled relative to the user's line of sight, another consideration is that it is desirable to control the cost and complexity of environmental units. In light of this consideration, it is desirable to keep components such as display components simple while providing desired functionality.
Accordingly, in view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a display method and apparatus for appliances, such as for example incubators, that can accommodate a difference in height between the height of the display and the line of sight of a user. Further, there is a need in the art for a single display element that can be adapted to be installed at more than one height, while still remaining oriented generally perpendicular to the user's line of sight.